There is so much racing going on we hardly have any room left for other news. The Vuelta a España has started and the USA Pro Challenge has finished, plus we have a handful of one day classics to look at. As always we have all the results, video and rider comments and in the TOP STORY we preview EuroBike. A race crazy EuroTrash Monday!

TOP STORY: New Trends At EuroBike!
Eurobike, the world’s biggest annual bicycle trade fair kicks off tomorrow in Germany and PEZ will be there, front and center with two men on the ground to cover all the action. Traditionally Eurobike is THE place to launch new products and follow the latest trends with this year’s trends already looking to be all about 11spd and disc brakes.

In a pre-Eurobike spy shot, we’ve managed to get a hold of some pics from the factory at American Classic which covers the 11spd and disc trends in the one product – their soon to be released 135mm wide, international 6 bolt, 24, 28 or 32 hole front (130gr) and rear (225g) hubs for cross, road or MTB. We’ll bring you more after we’ve seen them in person in Germany but at this stage it looks like Bill Shook and his team of engineers have done a good job again.

One step ahead of the game, American Classic should have their hubs available for sale this fall so that you can kit out your cross bike in time for the coming season………or your roadie! Yes, if indications are correct there’s going to be A LOT of roadies at Eurobike sporting the latest in disc brake technology. When it will be UCI legal is another question though……

10 & 11spd disc hubs on the agenda for 2014.

Keep it tuned for all the latest on PEZ from Eurobike over the coming weeks – it’s going to be huge!

Vuelta a España 2013
The Astana team will hope to carry on in the same way they started in Saturday’s team time trial Stage 1 by winning it and putting Janez Brajkovic in the Red jersey. The Kasakh team were the last to roll down the glass starting ramp in Vilamova de Arousa, but buy the finish 27 kilometres later they were the fastest of the 22 teams. Team leader and hopeful overall winner in Madrid; Vincenzo Nibali finished just behind Brajkovic for second place overall.

NetApp-Endura were the early leaders and eventually finished a very credible 7th, Omega Pharma – Quick-Step were the first to beat the time of the German team and held on to third as they were beaten by RadioShack Leopard by 6 seconds. Astana beat The Shack by 10 seconds for the win. The ride by Astana is all the more impressive considering the work done by Tony Martin for OPQS and Fabian Cancellara for RadioShack Lepoard. Tomorrow we will see how interested Astana are to keep the jersey as the finish could put Nibali in the red jersey.

Race Comments:
Overall leader after stage 1; Janez Brajkovic (Astana) said: “This was my lucky day. From the moment I woke up to the moment we crossed the line, everything went right. It’s nice to wear the red jersey after so much bad luck this season, and I am especially proud of how strong the team is. We are here to try and wear this jersey on the final day in Madrid, and today is a good indication of our intent.”

Brajkovic, from Slovenia, was set to start the Giro d’Italia in May, but withdrew just before the start with a stomach virus. He raced six stages at the Tour de France in July but crashed badly and abandoned before the race came to the serious mountains.

“After all I have gone through this season, up and down, stomach and crash, I am very relieved to be back in form, and very happy to be on this team,” Brajkovic said.

Astana Pro Team Director Sportif Alexandr Shefer said winning a team time trial is a great accomplishment. “We have never won a TTT before. Second, third, we always seem to miss that one thing, that one element. Today we did everything right, and we finished with six of nine riders. Everybody worked tremendously hard today to do this time trial right, and to take the leader’s jersey on the first day is a proud achievement for our team,” Shefer said.

“I think we had a pretty fast start, I don’t think it was wrong to start so fast,” Tony Martin of Omega Pharma – Quick-Step said. “We knew on the big road it’s a tailwind, so you the opinion was to start fast. We had a good speed since the beginning, but unfortunately we lost a few guys after the technical downhill. We really needed to pay attention at the end with five riders left. But even though we always want to win at a team time trial, I still think 3rd is a good result. Because we came here with riders for the mountains, riders for the breaks, and also some sprinters. We did this to have a balanced team in a three week race. We can be present in all the race situations; therefore we do not have a team strictly for the time trial. So, that should be taken into consideration before anything else and I think we did a great job with the team we have here. This was also a difficult course and I already predicted many teams would explode on the road. I am happy in any case about my condition and with this race. I had really good legs today and I am looking forward to the next days. For me, it gave me some morale and I think everybody can be happy for their performance.”

The Saxo-Tinkoff boys finished sixth, a solid result according to DS, Fabrizio Guidi: “We delivered a good effort and as we’re not the biggest specialists in this discipline here, I’m happy with both the effort and the result. Actually, I think the result demonstrates that our riders here are in very good condition and no I’m looking forward to test the form in a different terrain. I’m content and confidence and believe in a good Vuelta a Espana,” concludes DS, Fabrizio Guidi.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar): “It’s obvious that losing half a minute with Nibali is something not to keep out of mind, but the Vuelta will be long and nothing has been settled at all yet. The positive side is – we put thirty seconds on Purito. That’s why it was a good TT for us, even though it was really overshadowed by Beñat’s mechanical. It was a demanding time trial, it wasn’t the same to take turns with six rather than seven – his relays would have put us ten seconds faster. Tomorrow’s stage will be a day to pay much attention, not only because of the finish, but also due to the wind. We made a recon of the climb on Thursday and it’s a technical one – the opening five kilometres are hard, the climb eases up a bit after that, but the last 2k is really hard as well.”

The Belkin Pro Cycling Team started the Vuelta a España with tenth place in the team time trial. Sports Director Erik Dekker was pleased with the performance of his eight-man team. “I’m satisfied. This is a good start,” Dekker said of the evening test. “We can build on this. Stef Clement and Luis León Sanchez were very strong and – the real good news – Bauke and Laurens felt very solid as well.” Ten Dam and Mollema both agreed with their Sports Director’s analysis. Ten Dam, “The result today gives me confidence heading into the rest of the three weeks in Spain.”

Nevertheless, the time trial was not without problems. “Everyone started with high spirits, which was great to see, but unfortunately we lost Graeme Brown pretty quick in the stage,” continued Dekker. “At that moment – after Theo Bos not starting – we were already two men down compared to our competition. We even had to do the last seven or eight kilometres with five riders.”

Final Climb explored: “We expect our leaders to be up there,” Dekker said looking ahead to tomorrow’s stage. “It is a flat ride with an uphill finish. We did a recon on the final climb and I think Luis León should be able to get in the mix as well.”

It wasn’t an exciting start of Vuelta for Lampre Merida in the team time trial, the team finished in 11th place, 56 seconds behind the winner; Astana. This is the analysis of the Ds Matxin Fernandez: “Today we are definitely not lived up to our expectations, it is useless to hide. We were counting to be able to close the first stage around the 6th position managing to shave about 20″ from our time. Unfortunately it did not succeed but this is only the first step in a long and hard Vuelta a España. I still saw some positive signs in our group of athletes, starting from the union and moral development from the guys present at this race. I have to say that Luca Dodi surprised me today for how he contributed to the race after the long and forced stop for injury. Ulissi and Scarponi showed great legs on the ups and downs that the path of the trial presented today, this bodes well regard to their condition. We are aware that it will not be easy to recover 56 ” to a runner like Nibali, but if we look to tomorrow there will be already climbs out there, we will face an uphill immediately insidious stage with the final climb of Alto Do Monte Da Groba of 11 km.”

Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez: “Unfortunately today was a bad day. We lost some riders too early and this conditioned our performance because in the final part we had to be fast. Never mind: Tomorrow is another day.”

Stage 2 started from Pontevedra without Garmin-Sharp’s Koldo Fernandez due to the crash the team had in stage 1. He sustained a broken rib and other injuries, plus he had felt dizzy on the team bus, so it was decided that it would be better for him not to take the start.

The action got underway with a break of three including Alex Rasmussen (Garmin-Sharp), Gregory Henderson (Lotto Belisol) and Francisco Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and with an average speed of nearly 40 kph they had a maximum lead of over 13 minutes after 107 kilometres in the town of Tui with 70.7 kilometres to go to the summit finish in Baiona, on the Cat 1 Alto do Monte da Groba. Earlier in the stage Aramendia was first over the Cat 3 Alto de San Cosme ahead of Henderson and Rasmussen.

Into the last 50 kilometres and Lampre-Merida with Cannondale were helping out the overall leader’s team; Astana and the gap began to shrink, although the average speed had risen to over 41 kph. 20 kilometres to go, after 4 hours of racing and the lead was under 4 minutes with the bunch not full out by any means, but it was a case of when, not if the break will get caught.

With 11 kilometres to go the leaders hit the start of the climb to the finish with just under a minutes lead. Henderson was the first of the three to give up and the other two were pulled back about 9 to go. First attack came from Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural-RGA), the ex-Euskaltel-Euskadi rider, but it didn’t last too long. Movistar and Astana where in control at the front of the bunch, at the back the Red jersey; Brajkovic was struggling as Samuel Sanchez of Euskaltel-Euskadi and Sky’s Sergio Henao were both dropped.

Movistar had five riders on the front into the last 3 kilometres for Alejandro Valverde, with all the other top GC men (except Sanchez and Henao), when they hit the last steep ramp it was NetApp-Endura’s Leopold Konig who attacked. He was chased and caught by Dani Moreno (Katusha), Nico Roche (Saxo-Tinkoff) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r-La Mondiale). Pozzovivo tried to split the four, but this set up Roche for a big jump and a great stage win from Moreno and Pozzovivo.

Astana’s leader Vincenzo Nibali moved into the overall lead.

Race comments:
Stage winner Nico Roche (Saxo-Tinkoff): “This is really liberating for me, I’ve only won eight races in my career but I’ve had so many second places.” Avery happy Roche added: “Getting a win here after coming so close so often is so important. I might finish fourth, fifth or sixth overall in Madrid, but this is what counts for now.”

Dani Moreno (Katusha): “In the final part I was ahead so I tried to attack – said Moreno – I had good, but not great, feelings about my shape. The first days of a Grand Tour after a rest period are always like this though. It’s a pity I couldn’t win, but the second place is a good result.”

Katusha team leader Joaquim Rodriguez: “I saw Moreno attack but I couldn’t follow him immediately – said Rodriguez – I was in a good shape, but the lack of racing conditioned my performance. Anyways I think it’s normal after the rest period at the end of ‘Tour de France’.”

Laurens ten Dam (Belkin): “The first road day was fine considering I’m coming from far. I was really tired after the Tour. For me a long and steep climb is better; today’s last kilometre was a bit too explosive for me. I can build on this, though. I hope to get better over the next three weeks.”

Bauke Mollema (Belkin): “I felt fine. It was a bit of a crazy first day of a Grand Tour with an uphill finish, but I got through very well. Everyone is still fairly fresh and evenly matched.”

Luis León Sánchez (Belkin): “The last climb was quite difficult, especially after yesterday’s team time trial, but I’m happy with how my legs felt.”

Sixth placed Daniel Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) said of his finish: “This arrival was one of my targets, but I missed it despite performing a good race and the team supported me in a very good way,” Ulissi commented. “Lampre-Merida was active in the chase of the breakaway, that had reached too wide advantage. I was willing to try to get an important result, so we decided to give our contribution to the chase. In the final kilometre, I tried to make my move, but it was not incisive.”

“We knew that Nicholas was in great shape but he was outstanding in today’s finale with super timing and he remained cool until the right moment where he powered away and soloed to the finish line. The whole team did a great job simply staying behind knowing that we weren’t the ones to take control of the pack. Of course, this is a perfect start of the Vuelta. We believed that we could win here and I don’t think the guys are going to finish trying now,” said a very happy DS, Fabrizio Guidi.

USA Pro Challenge 2013
BMC Racing Team’s Tejay van Garderen finished runner-up and took the overall lead at the end of Stage 4, while teammate Mathias Frank was third on the rainy and mountainous stage and held onto second place in the overall standings.

Van Garderen finished in the same time as stage winner Janier Acevedo (Jamis-Hagens Berman) in the 165.6-kilometer race that saw the pair get a gap on the rain-soaked descent of the penultimate climb, then work together to roll in 13 seconds ahead of Frank. “I never felt under pressure, especially because my whole team was so incredible,” van Garderen said. “I just need to keep my wits about me now, not get too worked up, and focus on doing a good time trial.” Frank, who soloed to win Tuesday’s stage into Breckenridge, is four seconds behind his teammate on the eve of a 16.1-km, uphill race against the clock in Vail. “It was a perfect day for us,” Frank said. “We had everything under control when we hit the bottom of the last big climb. On the downhill, when it was raining, it was also in our favour because we have the best materials in the peloton.” Acevedo is third, 30 seconds behind van Garderen, and Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp), a further 10 seconds back, is the only other rider within a minute of the lead. Van Garderen said he is confident of his strategy for the same time trial that two years ago saw him lose the race lead on the way to a third-place finish. Last year, he wore the yellow jersey for three days and finished second. “I just have to stay calm and be really smart with the pacing strategy,” he said. “Having a good margin on Danielson, I just need to conserve and keep a buffer, rather than really try to go for it.”

BMC Racing Team’s Larry Warbasse was one of several BMC Racing Team riders who set the stage for van Garderen to take the race lead. The Traverse City, Mich., native was first part of a 10-man breakaway that once led by more than four minutes. Warbasse said he took a bit of flak for not doing his share of the work in the escape. “They wanted me to go back (to the peloton) but I wasn’t going to do that,” he said. Then, after being caught by a small group that included many of the race favourites, Warbasse turned himself inside out to whittle the front group down to five: teammates Frank and van Garderen, Acevedo and Danielson. “It was cool that I still had something left in the tank to help at the end there,” he said. Danielson was first over the top, but van Garderen and Acevedo overtook him and opened a gap on the rain-soaked descent. “We have Continental tires and those handle very well on wet surfaces,” van Garderen said. “I don’t even think I’m that skilled of a rainy descender. I think it was mainly the tires I had on my bike.” BMC Racing Team Assistant Director Jackson Stewart said so far, things have gone according to plan. “We looked at Stage 2 and we saw there was an opportunity to get time,” he said. “We looked at this stage and knew clearly this was the decisive stage of the race. So the time trial, for a guy like Tejay, was maybe a back-up if we didn’t have great climbing legs.”

Team Saxo-Tinkoff’s Michael Rogers took charge on the stage between Steamboat Springs and Beaver Creek. He leapt away with teammate, Timmy Duggan and created the long break of the day with Kanstanstin Siutsou (Sky), Tony Gallopin (RadioShack Leopard), Davide Villella (Cannondale) and Lawrence Warbasse (BMC).

Duggan worked tirelessly in the front group from kilometre 10 to 90 so Rogers was able to save some energy and on the penultimate climb, where Rogers launched a fierce attack. In the peloton, Garmin-Sharp was chasing intensely and soon the pack exploded. Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp), Tejay van Garderen (BMC) and Janier Acevedo (Columbia) bridged the gap to Rogers who soon was dropped.

On the following descent, Danielson had to forfeit and the front duo entered the finish line where Acevedo took the stage win while Van Garderen conquered the overall lead of the race.

Team Saxo-Tinkoff’s Rory Sutherland moved up to ninth position overall: “We had Michael Rogers and Timmy Duggan in the break throughout the day. Unfortunately Gallopin was a threat in the GC – only being 41 sec. down – so the gab never went up to a considerable amount of time, which was needed if any from the break should have a chance for the stage win. Rory (Sutherland) was doing his own pace up this climb – having Jesper Hansen as his pace maker. They were a bit behind the group of the yellow jersey but thanks to a tremendous job from Jesper Hansen they made it across just before the top of the climb with 11 km to go. Tomorrow, we have a 16 km individual TT where the last 6 kilometres are really uphill. Rory feels good – so we hope he can gain time in the GC,” said DS, Lars Michaelsen after the stage.

Tejay van Garderen of the BMC Racing Team increased his lead at the USA Pro Challenge on Friday by winning the uphill, individual time trial Stage 5 in record time and leading a trio of teammates who also finished in the top 10.

Van Garderen powered his BMC timemachine TM01 across the finish of the 16.1-kilometer race to stop the clock at 25:01 and better the record of 25:47 established two years ago on the course that was often used in another major Colorado race, the Red Zinger (1975-79 and Coors Classic (1980-88). “It was certainly a hard effort. I don’t even know how to describe it,” van Garderen said. “Your lungs are searing up there in that thin air. Van Garderen said he was actually surprised to hear he had won the stage – his second in the race that has previously seen him finish third overall in 2011 and runner-up last year. “You could see on TV that my cadence dropped and I kind of died there in the last two kilometres,” he said. “I was still paying for my effort in the beginning, which I thought was conservative.” After leading by 32 seconds at the intermediate time check, Van Garderen’s winning margin was four seconds over Garmin-Sharp’s Andrew Talansky and 62 seconds better than Talansky’s teammate, Tom Danielson. BMC Racing Team’s Steve Cummings and Larry Warbasse finished fourth and fifth, respectively, 1:04 and 1:12 back, while a fourth BMC Racing Team rider, Mathias Frank, remained second overall by finishing 10th, 1:26 behind.

With two days of the race to go, van Garderen leads Frank by 1:30. Danielson is third, a further 12 seconds back. Frank said he tried not to “blow up” and just ride a good rhythm on a tough course he said was made harder by the altitude. “Tejay was just riding on a different level, in a different universe, he was super strong,” Frank said. “It was really cool to see how the team performed. It was just amazing.” Frank said his performance is surprising even himself. “I am still struggling with altitude, like everybody does here,” he said. “I am not feeling super, but apparently I’m going good. If you don’t feel good and you’re still second on the GC (general classification), that’s nice.” BMC Racing Team Assistant Director Jackson Stewart said he isn’t too concerned that the effort van Garderen, Cummings, Warbasse and Frank – who won Stage 2 on Tuesday – put out Friday will come back to haunt them. “The great thing about this race is that we really positioned ourselves to where we didn’t have to do any work too early,” he said. “We have two more stages to work. I think we’re in fine shape.”

The Champion System Pro Cycling Team will look to protect stagiaire Gregory Brenes’s top 10 position heading into the last two stages of the USA Pro Challenge.

General Manager Ed Beamon said he continues to be pleased with Brenes, who is proving he can climb with some of the best riders in the world in the Colorado race. The 25-year-old Costa Rican is sixth overall, 3:25 out of the lead. He finished fifth on Thursday’s Stage 4 queen stage, a 165.6-km race that featured five categorized climbs. In Friday’s Stage 5 individual time trial in Vail, he was 15th, 1:48 behind the winning time of race leader Tejay van Garderen (BMC).

“I’m pretty proud of him; he has shown a lot of guts,” Beamon said. “For a stagiaire riding a course this demanding against a field this professional, it really shows his heart.”

Brenes, who scored a pair of top 10 stage finishes at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah earlier this month, said riding against renowned WorldTour riders – including this year’s Tour de France winner Chris Froome (Sky) – has been a learning experience.

“The bike is my passion,” Brenes said. “Now I can say I can climb with these guys.”

Saxo-Tinkoff’s Christopher Juul-Jensen crossed the finish line in the second best time in the time trial around Vail in Colorado. However, the leading rider Tejay van Garderen (BMC) showed why he’s in the leader’s jersey as he was 4 seconds faster than his compatriot. Team Saxo-Tinkoff had no riders in the top-20 but Rory Sutherland defended his 9th position: “Talansky and Van Garderen were in a league of their own on today’s uphill finish time trial. Of course, we had hoped for a better result and that Rory would have been able to climb the GC. However, we’re looking forward to tomorrow’s 185 kilometre long stage where we’ll be aiming for a good stage result but the sprinter teams will probably be trying to bring the field to the finish line in one group for a sprint,” concluded DS, Lars Michaelsen.

BMC Racing Team’s Greg Van Avermaet finished 3rd in Stage 6 while teammates Tejay van Garderen and Mathias Frank remained 1-2 in the overall standings, respectively, after a fast, final day in the mountains at the USA Pro Challenge.

Van Avermaet registered his third top-five placing of the race to go along with a runner-up finish on Stage 1 and fourth on Stage 3. Both stages were won by Saturday’s stage winner, Peter Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling), who out-sprinted Luka Mezgec (Argos-Shimano) and Van Avermaet at the end of the 185.4-kilometer race. “I started my sprint at 200 meters to go,” Van Avermaet said. “Sagan is a bit stronger and came over me. It’s another good try, I think, and it’s nice for me to be up there in the sprints. Plus, it has given me good motivation for the next races.” Van Avermaet said his first priority was helping keep the team’s general classification leaders safe and he said he did a fair share of work to help bring back a 15-man breakaway. “I tried to bring Tejay in a good and safe position to the finish,” he said. “I think we did a really good job with the team. That was our first goal. Tejay is still in yellow without losing time.” The overall standings remained unchanged, with van Garderen leading Frank by 1:30 and Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp) by 1:42 with only Sunday’s 116.5-kilometer circuit race through the streets of Denver to go.

Van Garderen said an average speed of 46 kilometres an hour made for a tough day. “The attacks were just going non-stop,” he said. “For a lot of teams, this was kind of their last chance to try something. That made for a hard, fast race.” Despite the high speed, van Garderen said he never felt under pressure as he rode into the city where he attended his senior year of high school. “I definitely had a lot of fan support out there on the road,” he said. “My old high school, Rocky Mountain, seemed like (it had) every single student out there on the dam today. I also knew every inch of the road we were on. It was an incredible feeling.” While the BMC Racing Team continues to lead the team classification, it lost the services of Steve Cummings midway through the race when he began having trouble breathing. “I just couldn’t breathe and my heart rate went super high and that was it,” he said. “It’s frustrating really; I couldn’t even stay in the bunch.” In Friday’s uphill time trial, Cummings finished fourth, two seconds behind third place. “It’s frustrating, really,” he said. “You want to do your job.”

Stage winner Peter Sagan (Cannondale) said about his team: “They did very good work all day riding on the front to bring back the breakaway. Off the front there were 15 riders. It was too much, but all the riders from my team did the maximum.” As to the final stage: “Tomorrow is not too long, it’s only 100km, so we will see how I feel and how my teammates feel, but we can try.”

“Second last stage before criterium Sunday in Denver – where most of the teams wanted to go in the breakaway – so it was full gas from km 0. Many attacks in the 1st hour didn’t make it – but finally after 48 km’s the break of the day with 15 riders went away by the initiative of Michael Rogers but they were brought back. Within the last 2 kilometres, Saxo-Tinkoff riders were attacking to try to win the stage alone. 4 times our riders got a small gab with: Chris Juul, Bruno Pires and 2 times Rory Sutherland who was caught with ONLY 40 meters to go by the sprinters. The whole team really rode well and aggressively today. The guys really tried in every possible way to win the stage. Coming to the final 30 km’s: first with Rogers and last with Sutherland it really looked like we had the stage win within reach but unfortunately it didn’t go our way,” said DS, Lars Michaelsen.

Tejay van Garderen won the overall, teammate Mathias Frank was runner-up and the BMC Racing Team took home the team classification after the final Stage 7 to cap the USA Pro Challenge on Sunday.

Peter Sagan (Cannondale) took his fourth stage victory in the final stage on the downtown Denver circuit. The early break of Ben King (RadioShack Leopard), Christopher Juul Jensen (Saxo-Tinkoff), Chun Kai Feng (Champion System), David Riba (Novo Nordisk), Lucas Euser (UnitedHealthcare) and Tyler Wren & Carson Miller (Jamis-Hagens Berman) was pulled back with 10 kilometres to go by Cannondale for Sagan’s win. BMC tried to disrupt the Cannondale sprint train as race leader Tejay van Garderen towed the peloton for the last 300 metres, but Sagan had it in the bag.

Van Garderen earned the second stage race victory of his professional career after taking the race lead following a runner-up finish on Thursday. He won Friday’s uphill time trial in record time to increase his lead to 1:30 over Frank and 1:42 over Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp). That proved to be his winning margins over the pair in the race that saw him finish third overall in 2011 and runner-up last year. With the crowd in his adopted home state of Colorado chanting his name during his appearance on the podium, van Garderen said he was motivated to add another title to the one he earned in May at the Amgen Tour of California. “It feels great,” he said. “I’ve been so close here multiple times. So to finally get the win is really amazing. This is a race that sometimes is hard to be motivated for after July. With this race on the calendar, it wasn’t a question of whether or not I was going to stay focused and stay motivated. This is my hometown race and I wanted it badly.”

Frank’s runner-up placing was his best finish in a stage race in four years. He soloed to victory on Tuesday in Breckenridge but said the high altitude – not a podium position – was on his mind. “I knew I was in good shape, but I didn’t really have that much time at attitude, so I didn’t how I could handle it,” he said. “But actually, I was going pretty good. We had a super strong team here and our goal was to win this race with Tejay. We rode really smart, with good tactics and I won a stage here, so being second was just awesome.” BMC Racing Team’s Greg Van Avermaet finished sixth on the final stage that saw Peter Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling) earn his fourth victory of the week-long race. “Tejay did a good last lead-out,” Van Avermaet said, describing the yellow jersey’s show of strength in the final kilometre. “I tried to be in third position coming into the last corner. But I was a little bit blocked by the guy from Cannondale, who was leading out Sagan. ”

The BMC Racing Team added the team classification to team titles it won with van Garderen at the Amgen Tour of California and the Tour de San Luis and also at the Tours of Oman and Qatar. Joining van Garderen, Frank and Van Avermaet on the winning team were Brent Bookwalter, Steve Cummings (who was forced to withdraw with breathing problems Saturday), Swiss road champion Michael Schär, Julien Taramarcaz and Larry Warbasse. BMC Racing Team Assistant Director Jackson Stewart, who directed van Garderen in California, said he saw a difference between the two races for the 2012 best young rider at the Tour de France. “The difference between here and California was that he had more confidence from winning California,” Stewart said. “I also think he had a lot more motivation coming in after the Tour de France after not really meeting his objectives there.”

Saxo-Tinkoff’s Chris Juul-Jensen comments: “It was a great feeling being in that breakaway on today’s course where so many people were out to cheer us on but it’s kind of a bitter way of finishing the week with a crash. I hit the deck pretty hard and even though there’s nothing broke, I’m going to experience a rather uncomfortable flight back home to Europe. However, I think we have done a good race and we’re leaving here with high moral.”

Vattenfall Cyclassics 2013
John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) was too fast for André Greipel (Lotto Belisol) and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) at the end of the 246 kilometre German classic. The break of the day included: Michael Schwarzmann (Team NetApp-Endura), Julian Kern (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Garikoitz Bravo (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Jonas Jörgensen (Saxo-Tinkoff) gaining a lead of 8 minutes at one time, but they were never going to stay out front.

When the breakaway was caught with 50 kilometres to go, Saxo-Tinkoff’s Manuele Boaro launched a bold attack from the bunch and Rick Flens (Belkin) joined after a few kilometres of chasing. They managed to keep the field away for 20 kilometres. Several attacks dominated the finale but the sprinter teams secured a bunch sprint decision by bringing everyone back at the entrance to the final 8 kilometres. Argos-Shimano led out John Degenkolb and he went for a long sprint, André Greipel came from far back passing many riders, but he had left it too late and Degenkolb took the honours.

Second André Greipel (Lotto Belisol): “We took the responsibility from kilometer zero and Gert Dockx was riding until about 200 kilometers. A lot of teams tried to get along in breakaways, so he did a good job there to keep us in the race. Then it was important on the penultimate and last climb of the Waseberg to be in a good position. The whole team helped Sibi and me with that. When Tim Wellens was part of the break, we could save our energy and we didn’t need to pull in the peloton. Jürgen Roelandts had stomach problems, so he couldn’t help in the sprint. But Jens Debusschere, Lars Bak and Marcel Sieberg brought me in a good position, but I didn’t have the legs to pass John Degenkolb.”

Saxo-Tinkoff DS, Dan Frost: “First of all, I think the boys did a very good and aggressive effort out there with attacks from Jonas and Manuele and in the finale, Matti was positioned very well in the hectic final kilometre. But we’re up against the hardcore sprinters here and it’s very hard to match their lead-out and top speed. Matti however is in great shape and I’m looking forward to following him in the one-day classics this fall.”

Dutch Food Valley Classic (Veenendaal-Veenendaal) 2013
Elia Viviani (Cannondale) out-sprinted Danilo Napolitano (Accent.Jobs-Wanty) and Kenny van Hummel (Vacansoleil-DCM) for his fifth win of the season. A 14 man break enlivened the early part of the race, but they were never allowed much more than a 3 minute lead and were pulled back well before the sprint. Cannondale were in control of the chase along with Argos-Shimano and Vacansoleil-DCM, in the end it was Cannondale who put Viviani at the front at the line.

Trevalli Varesine 2013
We had already seen him perky at the Coppa Agostoni on the climbs, his condition was great and with the rank of captain Kristijan Durasek lived up to expectations, leading Lampre-Merida to the second win in three races of the Trittico Lombardo (Pozzato 1st at Coppa Agostoni and Ferrari second in the Coppa Bernocchi).

The work of DS Piovani’s rider’s started from the gun with the young new signing Polanc who after just 2 kilometres was in the escape of the day. The twelve riders up the road hit the intermediate circuit of Luino and were later reduced to only six, 25 km from the finish their attack was cancelled by the remnants of the bunch. Polanc, however, had not exhausted his energies; along with Pietropolli they conducted a perfect escort for Durasek and Cunego to the foot of the final climb of Campione d’Italia. On the first ramps of the final climb the first rider to create the real selection was Bongiorno (Bardiani CSF), followed by Durasek. About 1.5 km from the finish a dangerous attack by Kolobnev shook the leading tandem of, Durasek showed great tactical intelligence and was able to cope well with the Russians attack. Showing a good acceleration in the last few hundred meters saw Durasek at the finish line alone, thus gaining his first win with Team Lampre-Merida.

Kristijan Durasek said: “After the good feelings that I felt at the Coppa Agostoni, today I asked to the team to believe in me, I was really determined and nothing scared me. Thank Polanc and Pietropolli who escorted me perfectly at the foot of the last climb, where, thanks to good work from Bongiorno, immediately found myself in the head. From there I managed well my strength, in spite of the pressure of the comeback by Kolobnev. Then in the end I still had the strength to a last progression that led me to my first victory in Lampre-Merida jersey. I’m really glad I showed my talent, and I hope to continue on this path. ”

Coppa Bernocchi 2013
Only Sacha Modolo (Bardiani CSF) could beat Roberto Ferrari (Lampre-Merida) in the sprint for the victory in Coppa Bernocchi.

The race was very interesting, thanks to a 10 rider breakaway which led from the early kilometres until the approach to Legnano. When the peloton caught the leaders, Adriano Malori (Lampre-Merida) did not surrender and tried to escape once again, leading the race for a handful of additional kilometres.

After Malori was caught by the bunch, Lampre-Merida worked to support Ferrari in view of the sprint, but blue-fuchsia-green team organized an attack by Pozzato just before the last kilometre. The action of the winner of the Coppa Agostoni could not hit the target, but Ferrari could fight in the final sprint, obtaining the second place, just behind his future team mate Modolo.

“I would have been happier if I could have won, but I know that I can be quite satisfied since Coppa Bernocchi was my first race after Tour de France,” Roberto Ferrari explained. “I did not know what could be my limit, so in the sprint I was careful and I started my action only after Modolo did his own one.”

Armstrong Pays The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times newspaper had to pay Lance Armstrong 300,000 GBP after parts of the book; LA Confidential written by David Walsh, were used in an article by Alan English in 2004. The case was settled out of court due to a High Court judge ruled that the article accused Armstrong of drug taking, not only suggesting that he took drugs. Now we all know the truth and the newspaper had announced it would counter sue for around 1 million GPB to cover the original case, interest and legal costs. The Sunday Times have announced that the paper, Walsh and English have “reached a mutually acceptable final resolution to all claims against Lance Armstrong related to the 2012 High Court proceedings and are entirely happy with the agreed settlement, the terms of which remain confidential.”

Who says Women’s Cycling is Boring?
Here is Rochelle Gilmore of Wiggle-Honda with a great trick on rollers. Don’t try this at home!

The PEZ NEWSWIRE!
Don’t forget to check the “NEWSWIRE” section, you can find it down the right hand side on the home page, just above the EuroTrash section. The bits of news that missed the EuroTrash deadline are in there, plus any news as-it-happens will be added there too.